New Pain Issues

[mercedes3]

Okay so, I have been taking tramadol and flexeril for my low back pain as a result of a bulging disc. I've been taking my meds for about 10 months now with some relief. But recently i've been taking more due to the fact that there not working at all like they were in the begining. I wake up every morning feeling like i've been hit by a bus, and it takes me 30 minutes to ease myself out of bed. My pain is at a whole new level, sometimes its sohard to even walk anymore. I think theres something else going on with me maybe lupus, but i dont know. And to make matters worse the staff at my dr office keep messing my refils up. Right b4 I made an appt w/dr which i'mto see on the 20th, they stopped my meds on me again..So I had to call and plead w/ them to refil 1 to last me till appt. I know this is probably staring to sound like i'm groaning, but I dont know what else to do. I was just wondering if anyone thinks I should ask  dr for something stronger. I get the feeling he wont believe my beings that i'm 24 y/o and already have so many issues already. Well any suggestions would be greatly appriciated, thank you.

[RunningMom]

Troubleinohio is right, you need to taper off of the tramadol.  I would mention to the doctor how the staff are treating you.  You should not have to go through this much trouble to get a refill.  If the tramadol is not working well enough tell your doctor.  Don't ask for certain medications though, let the doctors make the decision what medicine to prescribe.  If this doctor doesn't listen to your complaints, then leave.  There is no sense you should be left to suffer like this.  I had 3 herniated discs with spinal cord compression in my neck.  I had a single fusion to get the disc off of the spinal cord and still have two more disc herniations.  I have damage to my spinal cord due to it being compressed for so long.  It took so long before they did the surgery because doctors not listening to my pain.  I now live in severe chronic pain and the pain may never go away.  I should of gotten another opinion before this happened.  Now I have to find someone who will treat me fairly and maybe for the rest of my life.  You might also want to find a pain management doctor, they are not afraid to prescribe pain medicine and they give you a months supply at a time.

[troubleinohio]

well its normal to build a tolerance to all drugs you take regularly for pain, and tramadol and flexeril are pretty weak (IMO) to help disc pain. I know they never did a thing for my back pain, it was like taking a sugar pill. If you do get switched to another medicine , you should be aware that you need to taper off the tramadol since youve been on it daily for quite a long time. It can be very dangerous to stop tram suddenly (seizures are the main risk but there are other nasty WD symptoms too that go along with it as well). So make sure you do your homework on that and work out a taper program if need be. good luck to you and keep us posted